In the past, patient intake has been a burden and inconvenience on patients and providers alike. While unarguably necessary, patient intake forms that are traditionally done in the office at the time of an appointment cause longer wait times and frustrated patients. Patients would have to budget a minimum fifteen-minute early arrival to be able to complete their forms in the hopes that they would still get to see their physician on time. Most often, the forms take longer to complete, and the appointment is further delayed.This led to a decrease in patient satisfaction and an increase in frustration across the board. Due to an in-person appointment taking so much time out of their day, patients would avoid appointments overall. In this day in age, providers must utilize the tools that patients are searching for if they want them to not only make it to the office for appointments but stay satisfied with the practice overall. Intelligent intake is leading the way in revolutionizing patient intake forms.

Benefits of Digital Patient Intake Forms

1)Decreased wait times

The times that patients have traditionally spent filling out forms in the office have caused a buildup in wait times that can never be reduced to an exact time. Each patient takes a unique amount of time to fill out of their patient intake forms and this causes wait times to overlap with scheduled visits. Depending on if a patient shows up on time, they may or may not fill out their forms quickly enough to visit with their provider at the specified time that was set aside. With a digital patient intake form, patients can fill out their form from home, the day before the appointment, so as not to cause any trouble with their scheduled visit, even if they run late.

2)Attention to detail

Due to the fact that the patient is not in a rush to fill out their patient intake form, they can pay more attention to detail. From the comfort of their own home, they can comb through their file and patient history to make sure everything is accurate as well as update any information that needs to be refreshed. This is important because if discrepancies in a patient’s file are not caught, they can cause major problems for a provider down the road during billing.

3)Increased patient satisfaction

The patient may not enjoy filling out forms at all, regardless of whether it is a digital patient intake forms or not. But, they appreciate the decrease in wait time as well as the accuracy and efficiency it offers in the office. The digital patient intake form boosts patient satisfaction by making sure your patients are receiving the quality and timely medical care they deserve without the headache of completing long patient intake forms.

Things to Note:

1)Frees Front Office Staff:

Digital patient intake forms that merge into the already digitized patient Electronic Health Record. This is not true for every digital patient intake form across the board. This takes a huge burden away from the front office staff and makes it simpler to cross-check information later down the road.

2)A decrease in Errors:

Digital patient intake forms also decrease the number of errors that are historically seen in patient charts because it eliminates manual data entry. In the past, a patient would hand fill out a form with a pencil and a front office staff would enter that information into the computer or into the chart. This would lead to an increase in errors.

3)Increased Overall Efficiency:

With less time transcribing forms, your front office can spend more time on other essential office tasks. With decreased wait times, the practice is able to increase the number of patients that it is able to see in one day. With patients filling out their forms online, there is no need to have them double check them in the office. These factors contribute to the digital patient intake forms' ability to increase overall efficiency in a practice.